He has been the recipient of Kompositionspreis der Stadt Wolkersdorf (Austria), The Harvard University Green Prize for Excellence in Composition (USA), The Adelbert W. Sprague Prize (USA), The George Arthur Knight Prize (USA), The Julián Carrillo Composition Prize (Mexico), El Premio Estatal de Composición del Festival Internacional de Música Contemporánea de Michoacán (Mexico), the José Tocavén Lavín Medal in recognition of his artistic trajectory, 2nd prize in the Troisieme Concours International de composition du Quatuor Molinari (Canada), 2nd prize in the Ariel Piano Composition Competition, Third Prize Winner of the National SCI/ASCAP Composition Competition, and finalist of The Earplay Composition Competition, The Look & Listen Festival Composition Competition and The Jeunesses International Composition Competition (Romania). Grants include those from the National Endowment for the Arts of Mexico and the American Music Center.

In addition to his compositional career, he is highly active as a pianist and music advocate. He is the pianist of Nueva Música Dúo (contemporary violin and piano duo), founding member of áltaVoz (Latin-American composers collaborative in the U.S), artistic director of Morelia Nueva Música (Mexican cycle of concerts dedicated to the performance of contemporary music) and former director of The Harvard Group for New Music .

Hurtado holds degrees in piano performance and composition from Conservatorio de las Rosas (Morelia, Mexico), a Master of Music in Composition from Universidad Veracruzana (Xalapa, Mexico) and a Ph.D. from Harvard University, where he studied under Mario Davidovsky, Chaya Czernowin, Magnus Lindberg, Brian Ferneyhough and Helmut Lachenmann.